Abstract

WILD ANACARDIACEAE TREES OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE – COLOR, TASTE, MEDICINE AND UNIQUE CHEMISTRY

Abdullatif Azab*

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Abstract

The Anacardiaceae family is represented in the reviewed region by eight species, where one of them is of Brazilian origins. But despite this small number, these trees are among the most colorful, spice sources and with outstanding medicinal activities. The diversity of the known natural products that were isolated from these plants, is very large. This review is the most comprehensive that was ever published about these species in particular, and about the Anacardiaceae in general. The extensive ethnobotanical uses of these trees will be presented in the introduction of this article, followed by a summary of the published modern research publications about these eight trees. Due to great number of chemical compositions publications of these plants, we limited our presentation to carefully selected and limited number of natural products structures, that will be presented in several figures. An extensive discussion section will follow the presentation of modern research findings, and the article will end with very selected presentation of some activities of three domesticated species of this family. Most of the properties and activities will be presented in tables, for the convenience of readers.

Keywords: chemical composition, plant extract, antimicrobial, antioxidant, nutrition, essential oil, Sumac, Pistacia, ethnomedicine, Rhus.